Product Design and Assembly

Artists, designers, assemblers and fabricators play an
important role in the
Fluxus manufacturing process. They assemble both finished products and
the
pieces that go into them. The products they assemble using tools,
machines, and their hands range from seemly insignificant, trivial
objects to intricate
musical devices as well as artistic, performance and theatrical
artifacts. They fabricate and assemble Fluxus products from common
household goods, appliance parts, use digital photographic and
reproduction processes and use parts, computers, electronical
devices, vintage objects of all sorts, as well as designing and
producing stamps, labels, seals, box assemblages, display cases, paper
goods and more.

Changes in technology have transformed the manufacturing and
assembly process. Automated manufacturing systems now use robots,
computers, programmable motion control devices, and various sensing
technologies. These systems change the way in which goods are made
providing a wider range and selection of components used in fluxus
products. The more advanced assemblers
must be able to work with these new technologies and use them to
produce fluxus though, at this time nearly every fluxus object is made
the old fashioned way.

The job of our Fluxus assemblers and fabricators ranges from
very easy to very
complicated, requiring a range of knowledge and skills. Skilled
assemblers putting together complex fluxmachines, for example, begin by
reading detailed instruction scores, schematics or blueprints that show
how to assemble the fluxus product. After determining how parts should
connect, they use hand or
power tools to trim, shim, cut, and make other adjustments to fit
components together and align properly. Once the parts are properly
aligned, they connect them with bolts and screws or by gluing,
nailing, stapling, riveting, welding or
soldering pieces together.

Careful quality control is important throughout the assembly
process, so assemblers look for faulty components and mistakes during
the
assembly process. They help to fix problems before
products are produced. Quality of process, materials and construction
is our top concern.